Wednesday Papers: King urges gov't action to revive economy

Top stories

Financial Times: Barclays is cutting up to 2,000 jobs in its investment bank as part of a strategic overhaul by the bank’s chief executive Antony Jenkins.

Financial Times: Sir Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has called for it to shed some of the burden of reviving Britain’s economy, suggesting the UK government should do more to support the “disappointingly slow” recovery.

Financial Times: An equity trader at Schroders and four other people were arrested on Tuesday morning as part of a new insider dealing probe launched by the UK Financial Services Authority.

The Guardian: Apple is forecast to report the first fall in profits since its financial turnaround a decade ago with net income slipping 2% to $12.8 billion in the last quarter compared with the same period last year.

The Independent: Barclays is planning to offshore hundreds of roles at its troubled investment banking unit to India in a bid to cut costs, The Independent has learnt.

Financial Times: Google topped Wall Street’s forecasts for earnings and revenues in its latest quarter, according to figures released late on Tuesday.

Financial Times: Cairn Energy has set out plans to invest up to $2 billion on oil and gas field developments over the next five years while spending up to $300 million a year on exploration activities.

The Daily Telegraph: Aerospace firm Rolls-Royce is to cut almost 400 jobs at its Ansty site near Coventry, in a blow to the local workforce, a union has claimed.

The Daily Telegraph: Aerospace firm Rolls-Royce is to cut almost 400 jobs at its Ansty site near Coventry, in a blow to the local workforce, a union has claimed.

The Guardian: Microsoft is in talks to invest up to $3 billion in the private equity buyout of personal computer maker Dell, according to a US report.

The Independent: The hotel chain InterContinental has said it will get $31 million in damages from a property group which is removing eight hotels, currently branded as Holiday Inns, from its management.

The Daily Telegraph: Fresh hostilities have broken out between Bumi and Nat Rothschild after the coal miner's board blamed the financier for obstructing a law firm's inquiry into at least $1 billion of missing funds.

Business and economics

The Independent: Tensions at Bumi erupted into outright warfare on Tuesday, after an investigation into the miner's Indonesian subsidiaries gave qualified backing to co-founder Nat Rothschild's allegations of financial irregularities.

The Daily Telegraph: Bumi chief executive Nick von Schirnding has become embroiled in a row over his qualifications after changing his biography on the coal miner’s website.

The Guardian: Collapsed music and movies chain HMV could be saved after restructuring firm Hilco took over the retailer's debts from its lenders Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Daily Telegraph: Gwede Mantashe, secretary-general of the African National Congress, has accused miner Anglo American of stealing South Africa's money.

The Guardian: Sir Stuart Rose, the former executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, was on Tuesday named as new chairman of the online groceries business Ocado, sending shares in the firm to a six-month high.

Financial Times: David Cameron will on Wednesday vow to settle Britain’s future in the European Union with a straight in-out referendum by 2017, in a high-risk strategy which will test the willingness of Paris and Berlin to cut the UK a better membership deal.

Daily Mail: The British pound has fallen 4% against the euro and 3.5% against the US dollar since the start of the year, as fears grow that Britain faces both a triple-dip recession and the loss of its prized AAA credit rating in 2013.

The Guardian: Britain's coveted AAA credit status came under renewed pressure on Tuesday after official figures showed the government borrowed an extra £15.4 billion in December.

The Independent: Japan will embark on a "bold", unlimited money-printing programme next year, the Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, said on Tuesday.

Financial Times: US bank regulators have proposed new rules to guide the way that financial institutions market their products and services via social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook.

The Independent: Mary Jo White, the ex-United States Attorney for the southern district of New York, is being tipped as President Obama's likely nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US market regulator.

Financial Times: Ireland signalled it could become the first eurozone country to take advantage of the European Central Bank’s new limitless bond-buying programme, saying it was laying the groundwork for an application as a way to help pave the way out of its €67.5 billion bailout programme.

Financial Times: Portugal is set to make its comeback on debt markets for the first time since it was bailed out by the eurozone in 2011, as Lisbon seeks to take advantage of positive investor sentiment towards Europe’s struggling indebted rim.

Financial Times: Giuseppe Mussari, one of Italy’s top bankers, has resigned as head of the Italian banking association.

Financial Times: Ikea’s chief executive Mikael Ohlsson has hit out at European governments for holding back thousands of jobs and billions of euros in investment through cumbersome planning laws and red tape.

The Independent: SABMiller produced the first growth in volume sales for a decade after restoring the alcoholic strength of Australia's flagship Victoria Bitter.

Financial Times: Stephen Vermut, the founder and managing partner of Merlin Securities, which was bought by Wells Fargo last year, will replace Prosper’s interim chief executive, Dawn Lepore, the P2P lender said in a statement on Tuesday.

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The Independent: South Africa's competition authorities have given the green light for £56 billion merger between Glencore and Xstrata.

Financial Times: Inmet’s board has rejected a hostile takeover approach from First Quantum, the Toronto-listed copper miner, arguing the $5.13 billion offer is “financially inadequate” and timed to deprive its shareholders of the benefits of its major development project.

Financial Times: Ryanair is offering to sell around 40% of Aer Lingus’ short-haul operations to Flybe, a UK-based regional airline, in a last-ditch attempt to prevent its takeover bid for the Irish flag carrier being blocked by the European Commission.

The Independent: Britain's only listed undertaker, Dignity, has spent £58.3 million buying Yew Holdings, a chain of rival funeral homes based in the north of England, which could raise the cost of dying for people in the region.

The Daily Telegraph: British business leaders are planning a mergers and acquisitions bonanza this year as they look to cut costs through consolidation to drive profits.

The Guardian (Comment): Economist Adam Posen is wrong: Japan can fund a stimulus without risk to its economy. The US and eurozone, take note.

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